Washington, DC [November 9, 2012]—Today, LCA joined public health advocates in urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to deny big tobacco the right to modify smokeless tobacco marketing as a safer product than cigarettes. Big Tobacco’s petition is part and parcel of a broader industry campaign to circumvent the requirements of Section 911 of the Tobacco Control Act in order to promote smokeless tobacco as a “harm reducing” product. It is being led by the two largest cigarette manufacturers – RJR and Philip Morris USA – who have entered the smokeless tobacco market and have every incentive to both expand the use of smokeless tobacco and to ensure that smokeless tobacco functions to protect and expand the market for cigarettes.